- On_Line
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ON_LINE 
Promotional poster for the film.Directed by Jed Weintrob Written by Andrew Osborne
Jed WeintrobStarring Josh Hamilton
Harold Perrineau
Vanessa Ferlito
Eric MilleganDistributed by Indican Pictures
MGMRelease date(s) 2002 Running time 97 min Language English On_Line is a 2002 drama directed by Jed Weintrob and executive produced by Richard D. Titus and Tavin Marin Titus. The film was selected to world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and was released theatrically, on DVD and television world-wide.
Contents
Plot
Roommates and pals John Roth (Josh Hamilton) and Moe Curley (Harold Perrineau) start an adult internet site named InterconX where Jordan Nash (Vanessa Ferlito) is one of their stars. John has recently gone through a disastrous break-up with his fiancé, and is now obsessed with a woman named Angel, who lives her life on 24 hour webcam. A handful of people whose lives revolve around internet relationships at an adult web site become entangled in person in this comedy/drama.
Cast
- Josh Hamilton as John Roth
- Harold Perrineau as Moe Curley
- Isabel Gillies as Moira Ingalls
- John Fleck as Al Fleming
- Vanessa Ferlito as Jordan Nash
- Eric Millegan as Ed Simone
- Liz Owens as Angel
Technology
The film relies heavily on technology and in many aspects it predates or anticipates both technologies as well as cultural habits that would later become standard online practice and interaction: Netiquette. The design, look-and-feel, animation, and programming was created by Christian D. Bruun. Programming was assisted by Steven Osit and Kate Schaffer.
The technological implementations have several aspects:
- 1) The technical aspects of filming and recording four to six cameras simultaneously on two separate locations or sets. The set-up included two-way live video feeds embedded real-time in an interactive interface. The cameras included DV cameras (SONY PD-150 pal, Sony TRV900) and a variety of USB and FireWire web cameras.
- 2) Extend the reach and universe of the film beyond the movie going experience. This included making the featured websites available online for the audience to be able to explore the back stories as well as future developments of the characters in the film. This meant that the websites had to reflect each characters or mimic the social environment in which it existed.
- 3) The marketing of the film utilizing the websites and viral video clips. The clips could be emailed as well as transferred and shared on PalmOS devices. Initially launched at the Sundance Film Festival the clips was an early example of digital video viral marketing.
- Internet. All the websites created and used in the film was also made available on the internet.
- SilentCity.net. This is the main character's web video diary (a precursor to Blogs and Vlogs). New videos featuring Andrew Osborne as the online version of John Roth was regularly uploaded. These videos both preceded the film but also continued Joe's life after the film ended.
- AngelCam.org. AngelCam is the 24/7 online website of webcam girl Angel. On her web site we can watch what John is watching in the film and read about Angel's daily activities. For a while the site was truly live as real life web cam girl Liz Owens' camera feed was streamed through the site. The site was loosely inspired by the phenomenon of JenniCam.
- FinalExit.net is the goth website where Moira Ingalls and Ed Simone meet.
- InterCon-X.com is the adult web cam service designed to enable both professionals and amateurs to connect and watch and talk to each other.
- Web chats. Developing the interfaces for the web chats in the film Tim Dorcy and his iVisit software were consulted.
Trivia
- Liz Owens was actually discovered on the Internet as a real CAM girl.
- Several of the scenes in this movie were actually shot over the Internet, making it the first film ever to do so.
External links
Categories:- English-language films
- 2002 films
- American films
- 2000s drama films
- Independent films
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